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The WiiU Question: How Many Screens Do You Want In Your Living Room?

My critique of the WiiU yesterday after its pricing and release date announcement sparked an interesting debate among readers. Some sided with me, saying the multi-screen aspect of the new system wasn’t going to be as revolutionary as motion controls were, and that there weren’t many launch titles to get excited about. Others saw the 50+ “launch window” titles (released within six months after the console) to be more than enough for them, and I will admit there are some attention grabbing new titles like Monster Hunter 3 and Bayonetta 2.

But games are only half the battle, and Nintendo has a lot riding on the new multiscreen aspect of the WiiU. It’s going to be employed not only in its games, but also its extra-media activities like on demand TV and movie watching.

That brings me to today’s point, how many screens do you really want in your living room? I’ve seen a lot of advertisements recently about an “enhanced viewing experience” using both the WiiU’s controller and also Microsoft‘s Smart Glass, which has similar functionality mapped to a tablet that can be hooked up the Xbox. It promises to give you “extra” information on whatever show or movie you’re watching.

I feel like I can’t be the only one that doesn’t understand this impulse.

Perhaps I’m getting older, but I can’t stand the fact that I’m ADD enough at this point to be checking my phone every five minutes during a TV show or movie I’m watching. But to have a big tablet-type screen in front of me for the whole thing? It doesn’t seem terribly immersive to me to be reading cast trivia about Game of Thrones as the episode plays onscreen. Perhaps I’m a TV purist, but one more screen in the living room for me adds nothing but clutter.

I believe in many of the gaming applications of the WiiU gamepad. I think it makes menus and inventories obsolete on the big screen, and it’s cool all that functionality can be mapped to the pad itself. I do, however, have to draw the line when I see a Call of Duty Black Ops 2 demo where one player has the big screen to themselves, while the other is using the six inch screen to play. It’s not remotely feasible that a game like that, where you need to spot a sliver of movement 400 yards away to not die at times, won’t give the player using the small, low-res screen a huge disadvantage.

Once again, I’m found asking the same question I did about motion controls. Do they actually add something to the experience? This time, there’s both television and gaming to consider. The Wii’s motion controls worked great when it came to Wii Sports and a select few other titles like Skyward Sword. But you’ll be hard pressed to find many who say that most of the games that used the system benifitted from it. It often felt crammed in, like Nintendo was trying to hard sell you on the concept even if you were perfectly happy with your waggle-free playing experience.

The touchscreen on the gamepad does seem less intrusive than the motion control aspects of the Wii, but Nintendo is kind of all over the place with its controllers. Will games now have to have touchpad functionality and motion controls, as Wiimotes are still used with the system? It all seems rather convoluted. And as for its supposed benefits during TV and movie watching, it’s something I’ll be hard pressed to believe people will use more than once or twice.

The appeal of the Wii was its simplicity. You swing a wand, your character swings golf club. But now with a touchscreen master gamepad and other players using a combination of motion control Wiimotes and Xbox-like traditional controllers, the WiiU doesn’t seem quite as graceful.

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